Envelop or card delivering cabinet



PATENTED JAN. 5, 1904.

T; A. MATTHEWS.

ENVBLOP 0R CARD DELIVERING-CABINET.

APPLIOATIbN FILED JUNE 1, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

Wilma/wa No. 748,966. r PATENTED J AN. 5, 1904. T. A. MATIHEWSQ ENVELOP 0R CARD DELIVERING CABINET.

'APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 1, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented January 5, 1904.

P TENT OFFICE.

THOMAS A. MATTHEWS, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

EN VELOP OR CARD DELIVERING CABINET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 748,966, dated January 5, 1904.

Application filed June 1, 1903- Serial No. 159,585. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS A. MATTHEWS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Nashville, Davidson county, Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelop or Card Delivering Cabinets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of cabinets provided with means for delivering envelops, cards, tags, and the like.

The objects of the invention are to provide a novel and effective means for feeding the flat articles one at a time from the cabinet, to provide a novel automatic mechanism for moving the stack of envelope or articles forwardly as the same decreases in size by the successive removal of the articles, and to provide a novel mechanism for regulating the amount of such movement. These objects I accomplish by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective of a cabinet containing my improvements. Fig. 2'is a horizontal section on line 2 2, Fig. 4. Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective of the operating parts from the rear. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section on line 4. 4, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the mechanism for feeding the envelops or the like out of the cabinet. Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view showing the flap at the discharge-opening.

A designates the cabinet, which may have suitable drawers (1 aand'an advertising-space a. The top of the cabinet has a sliding or other suitable cover A','through which the articles to be served may be placed in the cabinet. At one side of the cabinet is a sliding panel A The front end of the cabinet is verticall slotted for the passage and the working of the operating-arm B of the vertically-reciprocating carrier or slide B, guided between the guides b b on the inner side of the cabinet. This carrier or slide is suspended from the contractile springs c c, secured at their upper ends to a cross-piece a and at their lower ends secured to said carrier, which is preferably made hollow to inclose the springs, as shown in Fig. 3.

D is a yoke-like arm pivoted at its upper end to the rear extension I) of the carrier B, and the roller D is mounted in this arm to be moved up and down with the carrier B. The arm D is pressed rearwardly, so as to throw its roller D against the front envelop or card of a vertically-disposed pack E by means of a plate-spring D which bears against a crossbar d (see Fig. 3) and may be adjusted byits retaining-screw d". The lower end of this swinging arm D is steadied by means of side arms 01 d, pivoted at their rear ends to the lower end thereof and pivotally and slidingly connected at their forward ends to the carrier B by pins and slots 61 d The arms 01 d are connected rigidly by a cross-piece d The roller D, which is preferably of rubber or covered with some frictional surface, is provided at one end with a ratchet (Z engaged by a spring stop-pawl (1, the teeth of the ratchet being so arranged as to allow the roller D to turn freely as it travels downwardly, but hold it against rotatiouas it is moved upwardly, so that it will slide the front article E up through a slot 0. in the top of the cabinet, said slot being covered by a flap a which will prevent more than one article E passing out through the slot. In its upward movement the front envelop bears against a loose roller 01. j ust below the front wall of said slot.

The pack of envelops or the like is supported at the rear bya vertical pack-adjusting slide F, having a lower horizontal member F extending under the pack and guided at its side edges in the guideways g g at the upper edges of two parallel bars G G, extending along the bottom of the cabinet.

H H are two brackets mounted, respectively, at the front and rear ends of the cabinet bottom, and J is a stationary rack' fixed at its ends to said brackets.

F is a pawl pivoted to the slide F and made in the form of a loop, with its lower crosspiece engaging the rack J tooth by tooth as the slide F moves forwardly, and thus preventing accidental reverse movement of the slide.

K is a double rack mounted to slide in the ICO it will positively engage pawl F and pull the slide F against the pack and move it toward roller D just sufficient to take up the space due to the removal of one or more of the envelops.

The rack K is given such forward movement from a bell-crank lever 15 connected to its front end by links 10 the bell-crank lever being in turn connected to the lower end of a vertically-reciprocating operating-rod K by means of a link 7c. The operating-rod K is connected by a pin to the vertically-slotted forward arm h of bracket H. The rod K has an upper extensible member K sliding therein and provided with notches 7c, engaged by a pawl 71: or other suitable adjusting device. By raising or lowering the member K the throw of the rack K may be regulated. This operating-rod K K is arranged below and in the downward path of the cross-bar (1 whereby when the carrier is moved down the cross-bar will strike the said operatingrod and actuate the take-up slide F. Should the pack E be pressed a little hard against the roller D, it will yield, and the arms d will slide forwardly until the cross-bar d is out of the vertical plane of the operating-rod K, and so the feed of the pack will cease for awhile, and as the pack loosens up the roller D and arms 01 will resume normal position. After the pack E is exhausted panel A may be opened and the operators hand introduced to move the slide F back to the starting-point.

The cabinet having been filled with apack E of the desired size it is only necessary to press the operating-arm B down to lower the roller D, which now runs free to the position shown in Fig. 4, and then upon releasing the said arm the springs 0 will quickly raise the carrier B and the roller D, which being now locked will engage the front article of the pack and push it up through the slot,as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, where it may be grasped and drawn out. I also provide the following alarm mechanism: a gong L, an angular bell-hammer arm L, pivoted above the carrier B, and there provided with a crank L which will be struck every time the carrier is elevated by its springs c.

That I claim is 1. The combination with a cabinet for envelops and the like having a discharge-slot in its top, of a vertically-reciprocating carrier or slide mounted in one vertical wall of the cabinet, a roller carried by the slide and free to roll in its downward movement along the front of the vertically-disposed pack, means for locking the roller when the carrier moves upwardly to thereby push the front envelop or article through the slot and a spring pressing the roller rearwardly toward the pack, and means for automatically pressing the pack toward the roller.

2. The combination with a cabinet for envelops or the like, having a discharge-opening in its top, of a verticallyreciprocating carrier, a swinging arm pivoted at its upper end to the carrier, a roller mounted on the lower end of said arm and free to rotate as the carrier moves down, a pawl and ratchet to lock the roller when it moves upwardly to *slide an envelop or the like through the slot, a spring pressing the roller-carrying arm rearwardly toward the pack, and means actuated from the carrier to feed the vertically-disposed pack intermittently toward the roller.

3. The combination with the cabinet having an opening for the discharge of the envelops or the like, of a vertical-reciprocating slide, a roller mounted on the slide and free to roll down the pack and having means to lock it in its opposite or feeding movement, a slide at the rear of the pack to feed it toward the roller, a rack-and-pawl mechanism for moving the slide forwardly, and means for actuating the rack from the carrier.

4. The combination with the reciprocating carrier having a feed device to feed the envelops or the like, of a slide for moving the pack toward the feed device, means for operating the slide including an operating-rod actuated from the carrier in its downward movement.

5. The combination with the reciprocating carrier and the feed device thereon, of a slide movable at right angles to the carrier to move the pack toward the feed device, a reciprocating spring-pressed rack, a pawl on the slide engaging the rack, a reciprocating operating-arm connected to the said rack and actuated from the carrier.

6. The combination with the pack-feeding slide having a stop-pawl and rack therefor, a reciprocating feed-rack for the slide, a pawl on the slide engaging the feed-rack, and a vertically-reciprocating operating-rod connected to the feed-rack, of a feed mechanism to feed out the front article of the pack and constructed to actuate the said operating-rod.

7. The combination with the pack-feeding slide having astop-pawl and rack therefor, a reciprocating feed-rack for the slide, a pawl on the slide engaging said feed-rack, and a vertically-reciprocating operating-rod connected to the feed-rack and having an adjustable or extensible member, of a feeding mechanism to feed out the front article of the pack and constructed to actuate the said operating-rod.

8. The combination with the reciprocating carrier a spring-pressed arm carried thereby a roller journaled on the lower end of said arm horizontal sliding arms connecting the rollercarrying arm with its slide and provided with a cross-bar, and means for locking said roller in its upward or feeding movement,of a packfeeding slide, a pawl-and-rack mechanism for moving the slide toward the feed-roller, a vertically-sliding operating-rod for the feedrack located below the said cross-bar to be actuated thereby when the carrier is pressed down.

9. The combination with the spring-retracted carrier having an operating-arm, a

, rier.

turn it to its normal position, of 'a bell, and

a bell-hammer having an arm provided with a crank lying in the upward path of the car- 5 In testimony whereof I aEfiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS A. MATTHEWS.

Witnesses:

J. B. MURREY, A. B. WHITE. 

